The Sedgwick County Commissioners gave initial approval on Wednesday for its community mental health center to create a non-profit to support operations.
COMCARE proposed a public-private partnership where the new “sister organization” would help with fundraising and promotion and the county would keep its oversight of the agency.
Commissioner Tim Norton says he’s supportive of the idea, but wants to take it slow.
"We don’t want to move too fast. We want to make sure we have good analysis," he says. "Early on, I heard we’ll do this in six months or a year. I think this is a 3-5 year process. There will be some good things that come early and that we can adopt. There will be other things that are more long term."
The commissioners issued a “vote of confidence” in support of the proposal so COMCARE can move forward with establishing the non-profit and selecting a Board of Directors.
The commissioners asked COMCARE to make a formal presentation at a future meeting before a final approval vote takes place.
The public-private partnership idea stems from the commissioners’ request last year for proposals on privatizing some services of COMCARE. Chairman Jim Howell says the county will put that request on hold while it continues to work out the details of the partnership.
COMCARE Executive Director Marilyn Cook says local business developer Jason Van Sickle approached the agency late last year about forming a non-profit to support the agency’s operations. She says the goal is to bring in an outside business perspective and expertise to help enhance the agency’s efficiency.
Van Sickle will chair the new organization. The non-profit is expected to have a board of directors comprised of 15-20 community members from the medical, business and philanthropy community.
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